


December 15: shopping lists and warm blankets

by dizzy



Series: 2017 (the darkest timeline) daily fic advent [15]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 10:30:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13029153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: prompt:something based around this list: blanket forts, paracetamol, tinsel, fireplace, honey & lemon tea, sleep





	December 15: shopping lists and warm blankets

Dan's asleep on the couch when Phil leaves, colorful patchwork blanket tugged up to his chin and cheeks pink. He's slightly sweaty and his mouth is open, chapped lips parted enough for Phil to hear how his breathing whistles just a bit. 

He only faintly stirs when Phil kneels beside him, pushing Dan's hair back from his face. "Going out," Phil murmurs. 

Dan's eyes clench and his mouth shuts and he makes a half-hearted noise in the back of his throat but he doesn't wake, not really. 

*

Boots is almost empty, just like Phil had hoped it would be. He gets to walk down the aisle in peace, picking up one box and bottle and packet after another. 

He always panics in situations like this. His mum always told him that, when Phil was old enough for her to send him on errand runs. Dan always tells him that, rolling his eyes and grumbling about Phil being useless even when Phil points out with indignation that he's really being _too_ useful. 

Best get the Lemsip, too. 

* 

Phil really means to go straight home after that, but he thinks that maybe Dan could use some tea as well, and he sees the sign for Holland & Barrett and decides a quick stop in won't hut anything. 

Then he gets distracted on the snack aisle, holding a box of chocolate truffles in one hand and yoghurt coated ginger sweets in the other. Dan deserves treats when he's ill, Phil thinks, and if he gets rice cakes as well that counts as healthy. (Maybe he chooses to ignore that rice cakes won't go well on a sore throat.)

"Can I help you?" The shop assistant asks, a pleasant smile on his face, and that's really Phil's downfall; that expectant look from anyone, the offer to help. 

It makes Phil feel obligated to ask them something so that they feel like their purpose is served and he's not just sent them off adrift and rejected, and that's exactly what he'll tell Dan when Dan asks why Phil's come home with an echinacea throat spray that Dan will never use and three boxes of medicinal tea. 

(And also the rice cakes.) 

*

"Did you really need Halls _and_ Strepsils?" Dan asks, making that face Phil knew he would make. 

"Shush," Phil says. "Save your voice." 

Dan hasn't even seen the second shop bag yet. He's too busy ripping open the packaging on the pacaretamol, though he does spare a second to send a rude hand gesture Phil's way. 

*

They put on Home Alone, because it's his turn to pick the film, and Dan only manages the first quarter over it before he's napping again with his head on Phil's shoulder and his body curled into Phil's. They're sharing space but not a blanket, because Dan demanded his own and and sometimes it's really nicer just to have their own. 

(But Dan's stolen Phil's quilt because he gets too hot too easily, and Phil's stolen Dan's fuzzy monstrosity because he's always slightly too cold and they've got a system of back and forth with them works out quite well when they need it.)

It's not like Phil wants Dan to be poorly. In fact, he's very invested in Dan being better quickly, since they've left too much filming to the last minute. 

But there's just something so pleasantly... _pliant_ about Dan when he's like this, drowsy on cough syrup with his edges softened and slightly needy for Phil to order him soup and make him honey and lemon tea and gently cuddle him, damnit, he demands with a painfully rasping voice. 

It's on nights like this that Phil misses the fireplace at their old flat. The heat is on and the room is toasty and warm, but there's no flicker of real flames to accompany the gentle wash of lights from the tree and there's no fighting over who gets to sit closer and warm their toes, no familiar smell when they'd put it out.

If Dan were awake, Dan would tell him to stop being such a sap. 

* 

Dan wakes at half twelve, hungry. He at least half-way manages to speak enough to complain that soup isn't real food, even though he's the one that had wanted soup, and only soup. 

Phil chooses not to point that out, based on self-preservation alone, but Dan finds the snacks and the various other things he'd been salesperson-pressure into purchasing from his side trip while fetching Dan's medicine. 

"Cod liver oil capsules?" Dan gives him a look of utter disbelief. "Vitamin D oral spray? Why the fuck-"

"They were buy one get one half off! Cod liver is good for your immune system, and I thought you could use some vitamins- and, and - your voice," Phil squeaks. "You should save it, remember? Thirteen out of ten doctors recommend you not yell at Phils while your voice is going!" 

Dan throws the bottle of cod liver caplets at him. "You're not allowed to shop alone again, ever." 

* 

Dan tires again quickly. "Goin' to bed," he says, fighting a yawn. "Take care of everything?" 

"Yeah," Phil says, giving Dan's neck a reassuring squeeze. He lets Dan slink down the stairs and then he sets their evening routine. Closed go the window shads, where they'd left them open a bit to see the view at night. Off goes the television and the gaming system, lights reflecting multicolored off the tinsel across the entertainment center until they go abruptly dark. 

The tree is next, and he pauses to admire the happy twinkle of it before he turns those lights off as well. "Goodnight, tree," he says, patting one of it's limbs and making the bauble hanging off of it sway precariously. He watches alarmed for a moment to make sure it won't fall, but it hangs on tight to it's branch. 

*

Dan's not entirely asleep yet when Phil makes it into bed beside him, but he's headed in that direction. 

"You're sleeping in tomorrow to rest your throat," Phil says, curling himself against the shape of Dan and snuggling up. "And if you play games, no voice chat." 

"Yes, dad," Dan mock whispers, because effect and because it's the only way he can properly talk without it hurting right now. 

Phil pinches his bum, smiling when Dan can't even squeal back properly. "Goodnight Dan." 

He doesn't get a verbal goodnight in return, but the kiss pressed against his shoulder is enough.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on [tumblr](http://alittledizzy.tumblr.com)! or [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/alittledizzy)! or don't! your choice! happy holidays!
> 
> Special thank you to Shoe for always putting up with my random uk related questions, giving me valuable insight and assistance, and generally being wonderful.


End file.
